Football 2011-2012

[eFestivals]

He dealt with it as well as anyone could have. He'll be a hero forever for the way he dealt with the aftermath of Hillsborough. Went to so many funerals, spoke to so many families. It affected him deeply. Drained him in the end. He resigned from Liverpool to protect his health, two years after Hillsborough. Just being around the place was having an adverse affect on his health.

I'll hear many things against Liverpool but thats not one of them. Daglish gets nothing but respect from (most) people on that one.

yep. I don't think anyone could have done more than he did. Football for him came a long way second to all of that.

Most of us probably don't do ten funerals in our lifetimes. I'm not sure how many Kenny did but it would been a lot of them, and all within a few weeks - plus having to deal with all of the rest of the shit that was flying around at the time (The Sun, etc) as the public face of the club.

It's not something I'd wish on anyone. The impact of all that isn't something that can be brushed off easily.

And regarding him as a manager, if he was as average as has been suggested above he'd not have succeeded with Blackburn as he did. As gets shown all the time, successful management takes more than bucketloads of cash to buy the right players.

[The Nal]

yep. I don't think anyone could have done more than he did. Football for him came a long way second to all of that.

Most of us probably don't do ten funerals in our lifetimes. I'm not sure how many Kenny did but it would been a lot of them, and all within a few weeks - plus having to deal with all of the rest of the shit that was flying around at the time (The Sun, etc) as the public face of the club.

[eFestivals]

He went to 30 odd. Maybe more. He was going to 3 a day at one stage.

a horrible horrible thing to have to do when each of those people had had their lives cut tragically short. It's not anything like the much more standard 'died of old age' funerals that most of us would attend on nearly all occasions we'd go to a funeral.

Yeah he had the cash but bought well with it. Just glad he didn't get Keano!

Although he undone a lot of his cred on that front by signing Carroll. Awful stuff.

Have to admit though, Liverpool are playing some attractive stuff (at times), after years of playing ugly shite.

Pass n move.

Even "buying well" doesn't guarantee success. You've still got to get those players to perform well, and the turn-around in form he made at Liverpool last season with near enough just the same players available to him gets to show he's got that too. He might not be the best manager ever but he's (again) proving himself to be one of the better ones around.

I'd love to know the details behind Carroll's signing. It's of course not a good signing, but it might not have been Dalglish's doing, or it might have had to have been a rushed decision. The price they paid looks ever more ridiculous, but the signing itself wasn't really a bad bet for a young player who'd been giving decent performances at Newc.

And yeah, their style of play is massively more attractive. I wasn't much bothered about watching Liverpool under Rafa but Kenny is a different beast. I love the way that they not only want to play keep-ball but actually try to do something positive with the ball when they've got it - most of the other teams around the top could learn something from that.

[The Nal]

See Mancini is moaning that he doesn't have enough players and City wont let him buy anymore!!

[strummer77]

If you mean let alot of people down by not stopping and dealing with it.....then yes.

[The Nal]

One of those what ifs though... what if Keane had gone to Blackburn?

Edited January 6, 2012 by The Nal

[pink_triangle]

I wouldnt put kenny amongst the greatest managers of all time, but I think he fits comfortably at the level below. I always thought he was amongst the best at making average players good and good players look very good. Liverpool look a different team since he took over and anyone who comes out with these stats saying theres little improvement from roy, clearly havent been watching.

One criticism I have of him is he doesnt seem to use the european (non british) pool of players as good as some managers. Originally at liverpool and blackburn (cant remember newcastle there was ahuge british focus) and he seems to be continuing that trend with liverpool now. To me there is such a huge amount of talent in europe, he is putting the club at a slight handicap by focussing more on britain. If newcastle can find these players, theres no reason liverpool couldnt.

[The Nal]

Hes back!

[Steve P]

Hes back!

[eFestivals]

brill ... defo gonna watch the match against Leeds now.

It'll be interesting to see how well he does, tho anyone expecting miracles is surely going to be disappointed ... tho as they say, class is permanent.

[kaosmark2]

Right, Demba Ba is off. Who do you replace him with in fantasy football?

[5co77ie]

Shame he won't be lining up with Van Persie for the Leeds match - as Wenger says he's resting Robin

[kaosmark2]

And yeah, their style of play is massively more attractive. I wasn't much bothered about watching Liverpool under Rafa but Kenny is a different beast. I love the way that they not only want to play keep-ball but actually try to do something positive with the ball when they've got it - most of the other teams around the top could learn something from that.

[Alcatraz]

Right, Demba Ba is off. Who do you replace him with in fantasy football?

[The Nal]

brill ... defo gonna watch the match against Leeds now.

It'll be interesting to see how well he does, tho anyone expecting miracles is surely going to be disappointed ... tho as they say, class is permanent.

[TheGayTent]

Smacks of desperation

[Steve P]

Smacks of desperation

[The Nal]

It's certainly a sad state of affairs that our squad is so weak up front that we've had to bring him in. That said, if he's left his ego of old behind now then he should certainly be good to have around the training ground for players like Oxlade-Chamberlain. Still there's always Park to rely on (I think Arsene wanted to show he was still a worthy adversary to Fergie by signing his own equivalent of Bebe)

[kaosmark2]

I think it's a great signing myself. He's still got the class, Gervinho's away for 5 weeks. He knows how Arsenal play so won't have to adapt at all, he won't be relied upon but probably played in cup games against lower opposition or brought on for 30 minutes at the end of a game. The young players will learn from him. Seems like an all-round win to me.

[Steve P]

I think it's a great signing myself. He's still got the class, Gervinho's away for 5 weeks. He knows how Arsenal play so won't have to adapt at all, he won't be relied upon but probably played in cup games against lower opposition or brought on for 30 minutes at the end of a game. The young players will learn from him. Seems like an all-round win to me.

[kaosmark2]

Macheda at QPR could be interesting. They need more firepower up front, and it'll be good to see how well he does when actually given a run of games in the Prem. He's always looked a bit mediocre to me, but then I said that about Welbeck before he went to Sunderland.

[kaosmark2]

The only problem is that it means we won't sign another forward. Come the end of feb we'll be back to having no back-up to RVP, which will bite us firmly on the arse if we want that last top 4 spot

[Steve P]

Walcott and Gervinho could both move centrally though?

In all honesty, I don't think you'd get a top forward in this window. Apart from the fact that they only move if there's a problem or money gets spunked (both in the case of Torres), most good strikers wouldn't want to move in Arsenal now in case you don't qualify for the Champions League. Assuming you do (and I still think you will), you'll get a much better forward by guaranteeing it than by having it as a season target. Signing Henry won't change anything for the summer.

[TheGayTent]

I think it's an awful signing. Arsenal got shot at the very best time. Was mediocre at Barcelona and has been playing pub football for how long...

Be interesting to judge in a months time

[eFestivals]

I think it's a great signing myself. He's still got the class, Gervinho's away for 5 weeks. He knows how Arsenal play so won't have to adapt at all, he won't be relied upon but probably played in cup games against lower opposition or brought on for 30 minutes at the end of a game. The young players will learn from him. Seems like an all-round win to me.

the bit I've bolded and other aspects of him knowing Arsenal so well are what makes it a decent signing to me, rather than the desperation that some are saying.

As Steve has said it's far from ideal in many ways, but if Wenger's not going to open the chequebook then this is surely far better than nothing.

And credit to Nal for saying the invincibles were the best Prem team ever. I don't suppose there's a huge number of Utd fans who'd happily admit that.